Teaching Material & Handout

First Mate – Ph II – Engineering Knowledge

11.2.2 Distillation and fresh-water systems: operation of a flash evaporator,
reverse osmosis, domestic water system, drinking water treatment

• Principle of operation of a low pressure Fresh Water Generator

• Principle of Reverse Osmosis
• Hydrophore system for domestic water supply
• Drinking water system

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR DRINKING- WATER

Water intended for human consumption must be free from chemical substances and
micro-organisms in amounts which would provide a hazard to health is universally
accepted. Supplies of drinking-water should not only be safe and free from dangers to
health, but should also be as aesthetically attractive as possible. Absence of turbidity,
colour and disagreeable or detectable tastes and odours is important in water-supplies
intended for domestic use.

The treatment of water required to ensure satisfactory sanitary quality is not considered.
However, where the term "treatment" is employed, it covers storage for periods in
excess of one month, coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection, distillation, and
other physical or chemical processes, or any combination thereof.

Drinking Water Testing as per IS 10500:2012 Standards

Microbiological Parameters
Viruses
Radioactivity
Parasites
pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS), chemical contaminants (such as heavy
metals, pesticides, and organic compounds), and odor and taste.

USES OF FRESH WATER ON THE SHIP

• A considerable amount of fresh water is consumed in a ship.

• The crew consumes an average amount 100 litres/per day.
• In a steam ship the consumption for the boiler can be as high as 30 tonne per
day.
• Diesel engines require fresh water for engine cooling.
• In modern ships fresh water is also used for flushing toilets (sanitary water).
Uses on board

• Steam Boilers
• Main Engine and Auxiliary Engine.
• Purification plants.
• Accommodation
• Galley.
• Laundry.

SOURCES OF FRESH WATER ON SHIP

• Sufficient potable water may be taken on in port to meet, crew and passenger
requirement but the quality of this water will be too poor for use in boilers.
• It is common practice to take on only a minimal supply of potable water and
make up the rest by converting sea water to fresh water.
• It is a statutory requirement to have distillation plant on board for emergency
requirement.

Generation of Fresh water from Sea water

• The conversion of sea water to fresh water can be achieved by two methods:
1. Distillation.
2. Reverse osmosis
• The water generated on ship is purer and also pathogen free as compared with
shore water.

DISTILLATION SYSTEMS

• Distillation is the production of pure water from sea water by evaporating and re-
condensing.
• The evaporation enables the reduction of the 32000 ppm of dissolved solids in
sea water down to about 10ppm in distilled water.
• The sea water is heated in an evaporator, and the vapours are led to a
condenser where they are condensed.
• As the seawater boils and passes away as vapour, the salt and other solids are
left behind in the evaporator.
• The salts which are left behind can form hard scale deposits on the surface of the
heating coils of the evaporator, which have an insulating effect.
• The concentrated sea water left after some water is evaporated is very corrosive,
and can corrode the steel body of the evaporator.
• These bad effects can be avoided if the sea water can be evaporated at a lower
temperature.
 BOILNG POINT OF WATER

• The boiling point depends on the pressure. The boiling points of water at
pressures ranging 0.5 - 1000 psia are indicated in the diagram below.

LOW PRESSURE FRESH WATER GENERATORS

• The fresh water generator comprises an evaporator and a condenser.

• Both the evaporator and the condenser are heat exchangers.
• In most systems they are shell and tube type.
• The generator is maintained at a low pressure, so that the seawater boils at a
temperature less than 50 degrees centigrade.
• The advantage of low temperature boiling are:
1. Less scale deposit on the heater coils.
2. The main engine cooling water, which has a temperature of about 85
degrees centigrade after it has cooled the engine, can be used to heat the
sea water to 50 degrees centigrade. In this way the waste engine heat,
which otherwise would have been lost to sea, is utilized.
• The system is shown in the figure.
• Low pressure is maintained in the generator by the air ejector . The low pressure
lowers the boiling point of water.
• Air ejector is an eductor driven by sea water, which is supplied by the ejector
pump.
• Cooling water from the main engine outlet is circulated through the evaporator
outside the tubes of the heat exchanger. This water is at about 85 degrees
centigrade.
 • Seawater is pumped continuously into the evaporator (feed water), and flows
inside the tubes of the heat exchanger.
• The amount of sea water fed to the evaporator should be three to five times the
quantity of water that evaporates. (Capacity of the generator)
• The hot coils cause some seawater to boil at about 45 degrees centigrade
• The remaining concentrated brine is removed by the brine ejector and pumped
overboard. Brine ejector is also sea water driven by the ejector pump.
• In this way the salt density in the evaporator is kept under control.
• Vapour given off by boiling sea water is led to the condenser.
• A separator plate prevents droplets of sea water from getting carried along the
vapours to the condenser.
• A condenser sea water pump supply cooling water to the condenser. This sea
water flows inside the condenser tubes.
• The vapour , which is outside the condenser tubes, is cooled by the sea water
and it condenses.
• The condensed water is pumped by the distillate extraction pump to the fresh-
water tanks.

TUBE TYPE LOW PRESSURE FRESH WATER GENERATOR

 • In the low pressure fresh water generator, the boiling is done at a low
temperature of 45 to 50 degrees centigrade.
• At this temperature the bacteria and other pathogens are not killed by the boiling.
• In deep sea conditions, the sea water is practically free of pathogens, but in
coastal areas, the water may contain harmful pathogens.
• Thus it is recommended that the water generator be used only when the ship is
20 nautical miles away from land.

OSMOSIS AND REVERSE OSMOSIS

If a solution is separated from the pure solvent by a membrane that is permeable to the
solvent but not the solute, the solution will tend to become more dilute by absorbing
solvent through the membrane. This process can be stopped by increasing the pressure
on the solution by a specific amount, called the osmotic pressure.

In natural osmosis, the freshwater will cross the semipermeable membrane and dilutes
the concentrated solution. In reverse osmosis, the pressure is applied towards the
concentrated aqueous solution and the water molecules are forced to cross the
membrane towards the freshwater.
 • The Phenomenon of osmosis (from the Greek for `push’) is the tendency of a
pure solvent to enter a solution separated from it by a semi permeable
membrane (a membrane permeable to the solvent by not to the solute).
• The flow can be opposed by applying pressure to the solution, and the osmotic
pressure is the pressure that just stops the flow.
• When the applied pressure exceeds the osmotic pressure, the movement of
solvent can be reversed, i.e., flow of solvent from solution to pure solvent.
• This process is known as reverse osmosis (RO), and is useful for generating
pure water from saline water

Reverse osmosis system

• The system is shown in the figure.

• A high pressure pump supplies feed water at 60 to 70 bars to the semi-
permeable membrane.
• To protect the membrane from abnormally high pressures, a relief valve is fitted
after the pump.
• Part of the feed water is converted to fresh water by the membrane, and is stored
in ship’s tanks.
• Remaining part of the feed is continuously discharged to sea so that the
concentration of sea water at the membrane inlet does not go very high.
• The semi-permeable membranes used in modern plants are spiral wound in a
cartridge form.
• This design increases the surface area and reduces the size.
• They are made of synthetic materials, e.g. polysulfone.
• The construction is shown in the figure.
MEMBRANE CARTRIDGE
Domestic water SUPPLY system

• Ships use the air pressurized tank (hydrophore) system to supply domestic
water.
• In this system, compressed air forms a cushion on top of the water in a
pressurized tank, and forces the water to the highest supply point.
• The hydrophore is supplied with water from the storage tank by a fresh water
pump.
• The water pump is started and stopped by a pressure switch to maintain the level
and pressure of the water in the pressurized tank.
• When water is used in the accommodation, the pressure falls in the pressurized
tank.
• When the pressure falls sufficiently, the pressure switch switches on the fresh
water pump.
• As the pump builds up pressure in the hydrophore, the pump is stopped by the
pressure switch.
• Due to the cushioning effect of the air, the pressure of the water in the pipe lines
is maintained, the pump does not run continuously.
Drinking water treatment

Before the water can be consumed by human beings, it has to be treated.

The purpose of the treatment is to:

• Kill/disable all disease causing microbes.

• Improve the taste of the water and make it colourless and odourless.
• Make the distilled water less acidic
 Add salts in the water which are essential for the good health
• The water is passed through a ‘neutralite’ unit containing magnesium and
calcium carbonate.
• Some carbon di-oxide is absorbed from the water and the water is neutralized by
these compounds which removes acidity.
• Acidic water is bad for our digestive system.
• The addition of hardness salts also gives the water a better taste.

• For sterilizing the water, chlorine is added as granules of calcium chloride

dissolved in water, or as liquid/tablets of sodium hypo-chlorite.
• Chlorine concentration of 0.2 ppm should be maintained.
• This dosage prevents the re-growth of germs during storage.
• As an alternative to chlorine, silver ion injection is also allowed, by the ‘Electro-
katadyn’ process.
• In this process a driven silver anode is used to inject silver ions in water.
 • The current is so maintained that the concentration of silver ions in the storage
tank is maximum 0.08 ppm.
• The water is led to the domestic system through a sand bed filter and an
activated carbon bed filter.
• The activated carbon filter removes the chlorine taste, and any colour and odour
from the water.
• Additionally, ultra-violet filtration is provided at the water fountains to disable any
germs at the point of utility.
• The neutraliser, sand bed filter and the carbon bed filter can have their flow
reversed for cleaning purpose.

Question Bank:

Q : Sketch & describe a Domestic Fresh water generator used onboard ship

Enumerate various methods to make this water potable

Q Sketch a reverse Osmosis plant for generation of fresh water from Sea water

Describe various methods to make this water potable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txziUwXd0cM&t=218s

Source :

Book by “ JK DHAR”

Marine insight